Some island cruising - The Canaries and Sicily, then Milan

[ellen10]

Your Ortigia photos brought back lots of lovely memories of our trip last September. We spent 4 nights there and loved it. Great food and wine too!

And @VPS the cats were everywhere!

 

[RooFlyer]

I most wanted to view The Last Supper, and timed tickets are for it are very hard to get, and sell out almost instantly, so I was watching the booking web site like you might watch for a once-in-a-lifetime First awards seat. As it happens, the booking day came up while I was at sea on a cruise, but after a bit of frustrating re-loading of the site, I got a ticket!

Museo del Cenacolo Vinciano | Welcome to the Official Website

cenacolovinciano.org

I also got a ticket for the Cathedral (Fast track, elevator access to the terraces, crypt, archaeological area, early entry)

Booking Milan Cathedral

Discover the various options available to visit Milan Cathedral. Book your exclusive experience now and immerse yourself in the wonders of the Cathedral.

www.duomomilano.it

and the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana library and art gallery

Pinacoteca | Veneranda Biblioteca Ambrosiana

Pinacoteca | Veneranda Biblioteca Ambrosiana | Veneranda Biblioteca Ambrosiana |

www.ambrosiana.it

First thing was the Milano Duomo. On any list of the great cathedrals of the world, this usually makes the top 5, often the top 3.

Not interest in Gothic cathedrals? Suck it up, Princess, you are in for a treat.

Metro and out of the Duomo station and met with this incredible sight. Construction began in 1386, and the final details were completed in 1965. Its the largest church in Italy (including St Peter's at the Vatican) and one of the largest in the world. it can hold 40,0000 worshipers.



Later, this



Entrance to the elevators to the roof is around the back. I was one of about 20 people waiting for the first batch at 10am; they opened on time and took about 6 people at a time in the lift.

Out of the lift and you see this. Amazing to think that these structures hold the damn thing up. You can see the very top of the cathedral, the Madonnina's (Little Madonna) spire, put there in 1762, topping out at 108.5 m.



And then ... Past readers of my TRs will know how I love a gargoyle and a grotesque.





There are over 3,400 statues on and in the Cathedral, including 135 atop its spires. (135 gargoyles by the way)

 

[JessicaTam]

On a sunny day there are usually quite a few people snoozing on the roof. I may have also indulged in the past. Oh, If you are going to do that, make sure you do it before going inside. Because that is when you realise how little is holding up the roof.

 

[RooFlyer]

Continuing along the roof.





And then ... down ... down ...



You come out in the cathedral interior and I had a random memory - of an Australian sports commentator, I think broadcasting the Moscow Olympic opening ceremony and his words were "Oh, ... my ... gawd ".

Oscar Wilde, on the other hand, visited in June 1875. In a letter to his mother, he wrote: "The Cathedral is an awful failure. Outside the design is monstrous and inartistic. The over-elaborated details stuck high up where no one can see them; everything is vile in it; it is, however, imposing and gigantic as a failure, through its great size and elaborate execution." No pleasing some people.





The nave columns are 24m high and the nave itself is 45m high, the highest Gothic vaults of any completed church.









Those vaults on the ceiling



The chancel and altar

 

[Pushka]

Princess? Gothic cathedrals? Maybe some just don't like Gaudis inspiration?

Had some good news last night about our trip to Malta and Sliema. The UK people were stressing and thinking of cancelling a few weeks ago as they are flying from Birmingham on Easy Jet and that damn fuel crisis and which would have shut our trip there down. But it was all good news so will be there in just over a month.

 

[RooFlyer]

I happened to notice within the church, a guy manning a door which led down some stairs to the 'archaeological area'. I'd forgotten about this and asked if my ticket got me entrance. Yes!

Down there is a big area now under the Piazza del Duomo which contains the remains of a 4th century 'episcopal complex'. Some narrowly avoided destruction during the construction of the MM1 metro line Duomo station in the 1960s but a lot was lost.

In this diagram, the modern cathedral is on the right, and within it, the footprint of the former Cathedral Santa Maria Maggiore (built 313AD), or 'old basilica', demolished to make way for the new cathedral from 1386. The Basilica of Santa Tecla, built in 350AD is to the left and between them, the octagonal Baptistery of San Giovanni alle Fonti (~380AD). At this time Milan was the capital of the Western Roman Empire (Constantinople being the Byzantine capital).





A lot of tombs and sarcophagi remain, from the 8th -11th century





The font of the octagonal baptistry - it had flowing water.





Next stop was to visit the crypt, but unfortunately there was construction going on, and it wasn't open.



Back outside, and a last walk-around



Statue of Victor Emmanuel II, first king of united Italy from 1861.

 

[RooFlyer]

Outside, of course there is the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II (so the first King of United Italy gats a second look-in). Again, wow. Built between 1865-1877.















Looking up from the point above.

 

[RooFlyer]

Through the Galleria to see La Scala opera house. A bit disappointing. Passed Leonardo on the way - would have a lot more to do with him later today.





Still had time to kill before my entry time to Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, so I walked towards the Roman amphitheatre via Colonne di San Lorenzo.



Wish I could remember what this was! Any ideas?





Colonne di San Lorenzo, consisting of sixteen tall Corinthian columns arranged in a row, facing an open square. In the 4th century, the columns were relocated to this site, salvaged from somewhere else.







Just beyond, the Porta Ticinese Medievale, one of the three surviving 12th century gates of the old Milan city wall.



And then to the Roman theatre - shut. Turn around.

Past Cripta di San Sepolcro, which, I didn't recognise at the time is part of the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana and would have been a super place to visit - a 1030 church, visited by da Vinci, who drew a map showing it; it stands on the site of the old Roman Forum. The church is now a 'crypt' beneath street level. Next time.

 

[TheRealTMA]

Through the Galleria to see La Scala opera house. A bit disappointing. Passed Leonardo on the way - would have a lot more to do with him later today.

View attachment 506882

View attachment 506883

Still had time to kill before my entry time to Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, so I walked towards the Roman amphitheatre via Colonne di San Lorenzo.

View attachment 506884

Wish I could remember what this was! Any ideas?

View attachment 506886

View attachment 506885

Colonne di San Lorenzo, consisting of sixteen tall Corinthian columns arranged in a row, facing an open square. In the 4th century, the columns were relocated to this site, salvaged from somewhere else.

View attachment 506887

View attachment 506888

View attachment 506889

Just beyond, the Porta Ticinese Medievale, one of the three surviving 12th century gates of the old Milan city wall.

View attachment 506890

And then to the Roman theatre - shut. Turn around.

Past Cripta di San Sepolcro, which, I didn't recognise at the time is part of the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana and would have been a super place to visit - a 1030 church, visited by da Vinci, who drew a map showing it; it stands on the site of the old Roman Forum. The church is now a 'crypt' beneath street level. Next time.
View attachment 506891

Like many Italian buildings, the glory of La Scala is on the inside. Generally one does a tour of the theatre with commentary, or better still, go to a performance.

 

[RooFlyer]

So, to the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana. I chiefly was interested in visiting the library, but of course there is much more. It was established in the early 1600s.

Veneranda Biblioteca Ambrosiana - museum and library in Milan

Library and museum in the heart of Milan: manuscripts, codices, artworks, and masterpieces such as Leonardo da Vinci's Codex Atlanticus.

www.ambrosiana.it

To be honest, I wasn't much interested in the art exhibitions - hard to put them in any context.

Polyptych from the 1400s



A whole room devoted to this enormous 'cartoon' by Raphael, apparently preparatory for his fresco of the Athenian School in the Vatican. Almost 3m long by 1m high.





This mosaic staircase was only created in 1930





Upstairs







Christ the Redeemer by Salai ~1500



Portrait of a musician by da Vinci - it entered the Ambrosiana collection in 1637!

 

[RB]

Maybe missing name in Post 188 was Palazzo della Ragione?

 

[RooFlyer]

So to the library. Beautiful, but very dark, not least because of the exhibition of sketches by da Vinci on display. da Vinci spent 22 years in Milan in 2 stints, his most well know work being The Last Supper, which I see tomorrow.

Leonardo da Vinci in Milan: A Detailed Overview

When you visit Florence, the Tuscan capital with the well-deserved nickname of “Birthplace of the Renaissance,” you’ll see Leonardo da Vinci’s work thro

www.takewalks.com

Some of the Leonardo works on display - the red is caused by the reflection of my iPhone case .

They are from the Atlantic Codex:



Water-raising machine, ~1488



Hydraulics - studies on water and perpetual motion ~1490.



Studies of fortresses ~1487



Ludo geometrico (squaring of curvilinear surfaces)

 

[RooFlyer]

Next morning I had a ticket for the Last Supper at 11:45, so I went first to see Castello Sforzesco .

The Sforza Castle is a medieval fortification located in Milan, northern Italy. It was built in the 15th century by Francesco Sforza, Duke of Milan, on the remnants of a 14th-century fortification. Later renovated and enlarged, in the 16th and 17th centuries it was one of the largest citadels in Europe. Extensively rebuilt by Luca Beltrami in 1891–1905, it now houses several of the city's museums and art collections.

The library here houses another of Leonardo da Vinci's large written works. Closed today.



Its really big, and used to be much, much larger, with a huge moat around it, but the rest was demolished during Napoleonic times and that's the park behind the remaining structure



















Torre del Filarete, rebuilt early 20th century after an explosion in the 16th century.

 

[RooFlyer]

Then it wasn't too far to walk to the Cenacolo Vinciano , ' 'Vinci's dining room' or, of course The Last Supper.

Museo del Cenacolo Vinciano | Welcome to the Official Website

cenacolovinciano.org

I guess most people have heard about it, and probably know about it. Its painted by Leonardo da Vinci at the behest of his patron, Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan (he of the Castle). Housed in the refectory room of the Dominican convent Basilica di Santa Maria delle Grazie, a World Heritage site, completed in 1469.
A little about it:

The Last Supper is a mural painting by the Italian High Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci, dated to c. 1495–1498, housed in the refectory of the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, Italy. The painting represents the scene of the Last Supper of Jesus with the Twelve Apostles, as it is told in the Gospel of John – specifically the moment after Jesus announces that one of his apostles will betray him. Its handling of space, mastery of perspective, treatment of motion and complex display of human emotion has made it one of the Western world's most recognizable paintings and among Leonardo's most celebrated works. Some commentators consider it pivotal in inaugurating the transition into what is now termed the High Renaissance.

Its painted with/via tempura, generally used in panel painting, rather than as a fresco, which would not allow alterations and would be less vivid. The substrate is 'gesso', which can be described as a type of plaster, and da Vinci put an undercoat of 'white lead' (lead carbonate) to enhance brightness.

You had to be very quick to secure a ticket, which are issued in 30 minute intervals a few months prior. There is only about 20-25 tickets per time slot, {Edit - web site says max of 40] which I realised when I saw my own group. You have to report to the ticket office well before your allocated time. They then send you into the convent building and you are assembled into your group. Then, glass doors in front of you open, and you go into a small space, and the doors behind close. They re-opened to allow a late-comer. With those doors closed, glass doors in front of you open and you go through to the next space. When everyone is through, only then, after the doors behind close and after the people in the prior group clear out (you can see through smoked glass), do they open the glass doors into the space that holds the painting.

The Basilica





Waiting for entry.



Series of 'air locks' before entry.

 

[RooFlyer]

Each group is allowed 15 minutes in the room, which has another work at the other end.

The painting shows the moment when Jesus discloses to the 12 Apostles that he has been betrayed by one of them, and their reactions.



Panning left to right:

From the left, Bartholomew, James, Andrew, Judas (holding a bag of ?silver), Peter, John



Judas, Peter, John, Jesus



Jesus, Thomas, James the Elder, Philip



Matthew, Jude Thaddeus and Simon the Zealot



The centre



The lunettes above the work contain Sforza's coat-of-arms. The thing at the bottom is where a door was put through in 1652



Gotta say its looking a bit tatty ... after over 500 years ... and a few restorations, the last one in 1999. I read that little of the actual painting (original brushstrokes) remain.

The Wikipedia article linked above details the history of damage, and damaging restorations through the years. Allied bombing nearly took the whole thing out - in this image, from the article, the painting is protected on the right by a shield.



In the last restoration, 1978-99, unrestorable areas were painted with pale watercolours, hence the mottled appearance. This is what it looked like in the 1970s (Wikipedia article).

 

[TheRealTMA]

Each group is allowed 15 minutes in the room, which has another work at the other end.

The painting shows the moment when Jesus discloses to the 12 Apostles that he has been betrayed by one of them, and their reactions.

View attachment 507218

Panning left to right:

From the left, Bartholomew, James, Andrew, Judas (holding a bag of ?silver), Peter, John

View attachment 507216

Judas, Peter, John, Jesus

View attachment 507215

Jesus, Thomas, James the Elder, Philip

View attachment 507214

Matthew, Jude Thaddeus and Simon the Zealot

View attachment 507213

The centre

View attachment 507212

The lunettes above the work contain Sforza's coat-of-arms. The thing at the bottom is where a door was put through in 1652

View attachment 507217

Gotta say its looking a bit tatty ... after over 500 years ... and a few restorations, the last one in 1999. I read that little of the actual painting (original brushstrokes) remain.

The Wikipedia article linked above details the history of damage, and damaging restorations through the years. Allied bombing nearly took the whole thing out - in this image, from the article, the painting is protected on the right by a shield.

View attachment 507220

In the last restoration, 1978-99, unrestorable areas were painted with pale watercolours, hence the mottled appearance. This is what it looked like in the 1970s (Wikipedia article).

View attachment 507221

Once when I went, the guard said “l’ultima cena è finite” - The last supper is finished! Meaning the quota was full but they had two vacancies so managed to squeeze my way in,